Police: Man stole $964 in Belk's merchandise

A Kings Mountain man was arrested this weekend on charges of stealing nearly $1,000 worth of clothing and washcloths from a local department store.

William E. Kendrick, 38, of Kings Mountain, is charged with taking $964 in merchandise from the Belk department store at Cleveland Mall without paying for it, a ccording to a Shelby Police report .

Here's what happened, according to police who filed the report:

Kendrick left the store in a white Dodge Charger. An employee followed Kendrick until police responded. When police tried to pull Kendrick over, he sped up, crossed a double yellow line and passed two cars.

“When the Charger approached the Boarders Road intersection, the light was red in our direction and the Charger did not stop,” an officer wrote in the report.

At the Kings Road intersection, the Charger slowed and came to a stop.

Kendrick and a passenger were taken out of the Charger and arrested.

“He didn’t have anything to do with it. I did it," Kendrick told law enforcement, according to the report.

Police searched the car and found the stolen clothes and washcloths in a gray trash bag. A Belk employee identified Kendrick as the person who took the items and said that they had never seen the passenger in the store.

The passenger’s information was taken by police and the passenger was released.

The report states that after being fingerprinted at the annex, Kendrick said, “I want to apologize.”

Kendrick was charged with misdemeanor larceny, careless and reckless driving, and fleeing/eluding arrest with a motor vehicle.